Hardest Days
by Squnick
Summary: When the Covenant attacks Reach, they do more than just kill the Marines. My attempt at the hardship of war. First Fanfic.
1. 1: ODST

_- UNSC Frigate, Happy Go Lucky, In orbit of Reach, August 30, 2551_

The _Happy Go Lucky_ slowly came around Gamma Station and finally came into sight of Reach. It was still around 0400 hours and it was a good day. There was a lot of ships around today, probably for some brass party.

Captain Onus stood in front of the view screen of the observation deck and looked at the fleet formations and the marvelous landscape of the UNSC planet.

He turned around and walked towards his holo-table. He clicked a button and an area the size of North America appeared on the screen. He kept zooming in until he came on an area the size of his ship was all that was left. He saw tiny waypoints pop up and have little numbers and letters under them. He held down another button and started to speak.

"All ODST teams are cleared for launch. I repeat, all ODST teams are ready for launch." he said. Today was the start of the next cycle of training for ODSTs and today was the first practice drop for them. It was a paintball match between Alpha Company and Beta and the first team to eliminate the other teams would get some R&R for a week before training.

"Roger Captain, all ODSTs are go." said Sergeant Gregory Schmidt. Schmidt was one of the ODST trainers and he had been a good friend of Onus's ever since Sigma Octanus IV when he commandeered a Warthog to go and save Onus from Alpha Base's destruction.

On the table, one hundred tiny little blips started to fall towards the planet. On the other side of the table, some other little blips were starting to come out of cover and mount Warthogs to drive towards the falling ODSTs.

"Hmmm, time to see if those Marines are as good as they are supposed to be." said Onus as he turned and strolled to the bridge.

_-Over Reach, SOEIV, August 30, 2551_

The HEV was flying through space. He looked out the tiny view port on the hatch and saw the sprawling landscape. Sergeant Schmidt was reading some plans of attack submitted by the ODSTs that were spread out around him in space. He picked one that had the first platoon distracting the Marines below and the rest attacking from the right. He sent it to all of the other SOEIVs and then braced for the HEV to hit the atmosphere. In moments, it hit the atmosphere and he felt the parachute deploy. He briefly felt a sensation that he was being pulled apart. The rapid deceleration threatened to rip the helmet right from his head. He looked at the in-pod temperature and saw that it was above 105 degrees. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead and he raised an armored hand and wiped it off. He looked out the screen again and saw he was a few hundred feet from the ground. The reverse thrusters kicked in and he felt like he was going forward and backward at the same time. He was about to take a pain reliever pill when he hit the ground.

He heard voices outside. He polarized his visor to help him see in the new light of the planet and then looked out the view port. There were two Marines with M7 Paintball SMGs and they were closing in on his pod. He clicked all the buttons to release the door and watched it explode outward.

The pod door hit the first Marine square in the chest and he was knocked out. The second Marine raised his gun to open fire on Schmidt but an ODST came out from behind a bush and fired his paintball Assault Rifle.

Schmidt crawled out of the pod and started to help his fellow troopers out of their pods. After 99% of the ODSTs were out of their pods and ready to fight, Gregory took his Sniper Rifle and put the M6C on his thigh holster. He went to the supply SOEIV and took the Mongoose out of it. He started to drive it and a spotter hopped on the back. He started to drive towards the enemy base while the rest of the ODSTs were content on jogging there. He spotted a good sized ridge and started to drive over towards it. Those Marines didn't stand a chance.

_-Zulu Station, 1 km from the SOEIV drop zone_

Lieutenant Richard Sikorsky paced the room and looked at the holo table before him. It showed some of his Marines taking up defensive positions and readying Machine Guns to fire on the ODSTs. Which reminded him, he flicked the map over to them and watched them moving towards Zulu. He ordered some Longswords to drop some paint bombs on the enemy and also some Warthogs with paint MGs to move out and find the enemy.

Sikorsky pulled the slide on his M7 and walked outside. There was a blur of activity as Marines were readying for the due battle. Some Warthogs and Pumas were starting to roll out. The Puma, the newest addition to the UNSC Mobile Divisions, was a cross between a Warthog and a Mongoose and was faster and has less protection than a Warthog, but still retained an MG.

A corporal dismounted a recently returning Warthog and ran up to him.

"Sir, the ODSTs are moving up on two flanks. I spotted two of them on a Mongoose. They will be here in 10 minutes." the young Corporal said in a hurry. Must be from Texas or Oklahoma.

"Alright, tell all under your command to take up defensive positions and to make sure they have a copious amount of ammo. We aren't going down easy." replied Sikorsky. With that said, he hopped in a Warthog and was drove off towards a guard tower to be a spectator to the battle.

_-Half a kilometer from Zulu Station, Ridge G45E_

Sergeant Gregory Schmidt was looking through the scope and was currently looking at some Marines mounting a Warthog when the spotter tapped his shoulder plate and pointed at some Longswords flying overhead

"What are they doing Sarge?" the spotter asked.

"No idea." Schmidt said as he zoomed in at 2x on the Longswords. They started to drop some bombs but instead of a massive explosion, there was a paint splattered everywhere. At least 10 ODSTs were hit and were heading to the safe zone. The Longswords flew back to base and Schmidt returned to looking at the enemy recon teams. A Marine was alone and taking a smoke and the nearest Marine to him was at least 20 feet away so Schmidt opened fire. He got hit right in the chest. He looked around and started to curse. The spotter started to snicker. The other Marine turned around, obviously surprised, and saw his buddy down and burst out laughing. When Schmidt shot him in the chest as well, he wasn't very happy though. The rest of the Marine squad ran back to their Warthogs and drove back to base.

"All teams-report" Sikorsky said into the radio.

"Alpha Platoon is ready."

"Bravo Platoon is ready!"

"Charlie and Delta Platoons are ready." said all of the commanders. Since Sergeant Sikorsky was the commander of Foxtrot Platoon. He assumed that Foxtrot was ready too.

"All teams have the green light to fire. Light 'em up!" he continued. Little black blobs flew out of the trees and hit the outer defenses. The pink balls of the Marines were not as much as the black, but they were still there. Schmidt fired rapidly at a Warthog that swerved towards Alpha Platoon. The gunner was hit first, then the driver. However, the passenger jumped out and ran towards the nearest ODST and shot him in the visor with his M6D. The ODST had a pink faceplate now so he was stumbling around. Schmidt went to shoot him when the heard shouting behind them.

"Sniper! Shoot him!" a Marine yelled. The Warthog's turret swiveled towards them and it opened up on the spotter first. Schmidt grabbed his M7 and ran towards the Mongoose. The bullets were pinging off the vehicle but none hit him. He turned while driving down the hill and shot some bullets up towards them. He did a sharp turn off the ridge and free fell 15 feet on the 'Goose when it hit the ground. His teeth clenched but he didn't taste blood. He kept driving until he found some members of Delta Platoon using a captured MG on the Marines across a field. He dismounted the Mongoose and shot a Marine who popped up with a Battle Rifle.

"Status?" Schmidt said to the Marine nearest to him.

"Good sir. We've been pinned down for about 15 minutes and we're low on ammo. I don't know how we are going to get through this one." the Private First Class said. Schmidt unclipped a paint grenade and threw it towards the enemy barricade. They all jumped up and ran to another barricade. The ODSTs shout them in the backs and them moved up to their now vacant barricade.

"We're only a quarter of kilometer from Zulu, let's do this." Schmidt said to the rest of the ODSTs.

_-Guard Tower B5, Zulu Station_

Sikorsky shot an advancing ODST with his M6S and looked for the rest of his squad. The Marines next to him were setting up an Machine Gun for use by Sikorsky but until then, he had to use this sidearm to shoot the ODSTs.

Sikorsky looked around the battlefield for any more ODSTs. All he saw were numerous groups of them moving up on the base and a bunch of black covered Marines. Three Marines wee holding a barricade but not for much longer. Sikorsky glanced over at the Machine guns progress and saw that it was operational. He side-stepped over to it and pressed the "fire" button. Instantly, pink blobs filled the sky. Sikorsky grinned as an ODST was gunned down with the pink. Then, Sikorsky heard something.

"Hands up, Lieutenant." said the ODST. Sikorsky sighed and tossed his paintball gun to him. Another ODST climbed the ladder and took off his helmet.

"Heh! Looks like you lose again Lieutenant." Schmidt said as he flipped on his communicator.

"Yes sir. They'll do." he said.


	2. 2: Prepare to Drop

_**-In orbit of Reach, August 30, 2552**_

"**Hurry, get to the pods!" Schmidt ordered. He was talking to his squad about how last year they were doing drops and paintball matches when all of a sudden they go and get attacked by the Covenant. This was Reach, not some stupid colony world. How did they even got here anyways?**

**Schmidt was knocked out of his thoughts when another boarder slammed into the side of the Frigate. **

"**All ODSTs to SOEIV bay A. I repeat, all troopers to Bay A" the ship's A.I. said over the shipboard speaker. Schmidt got to the bay door, and typed in the code, 5468, and then ran inside. All of his squad was there. Mick, Swede, Flim, and Cacti. Cacti spoke up first.**

"**I guess it's for real now, eh?" he said in his heavy British accent. He slammed the magazine into his Battle Rifle and turned to his pod.**

"**Let's get it over with then." he continued. The rest of the ODSTs mumbled and grunted as they pulled on helmets and picked up rifles. They all went to their respective pods and the A.I. released the pods into space.**

_**-Reach, Fire Base Charlie, X-ray Company**_

**Plasma bolts flew over the barricade and impacted on the corporal heading towards it. Sergeant Peterson grunted and raised his MA5B over the edge and shot the oncoming Grunts and Elites. The roaring of a Warthog was heard in the distance as the armored column hurried to reach the Fire Base. Meanwhile, the Marines of Zulu Company were holding their own with their Assault Rifles.**

"**This is Zulu Company to FLEETCOM, we need ODST drops around our perimeter. We are being breached on all entrances. Fewer than 25 Marines left, please drop some troopers!" the communication officer said. Not two seconds later, a Beam Rifle hit him in the face and he was dead. **

**Sergeant Peterson pulled off his radio and raised it to his face. Banshees flew overhead and Hornets rose from the flight pads to destroy the Banshees.**

"**FLEETCOM where are those ODSTs?!" Peterson shouted into the radio. He saw an Assault Carrier come down from the sky and start to lower its Gravity Lift. Peterson slammed his fist into the dirt. No way was Reach lost this fast. **

"**Zulu Company hold out. ODSTs inbound. FLEETCOM out." the calm operator replied. Peterson looked back at the sky and saw a hundred scratches formed on the sky and the HEVs started to enter the atmosphere. It might not be lost yet. Just then, a squeak came from his left. **

**A Grunt was pointing a Plasma Pistol at him and trembling. He was about to shoot when a Warthog slammed into it. Peterson whipped his head around to look at the Warthogs. They reversed and kept driving forward to take out more Covenant. **

**Peterson stood up and ran to the next barricade, 20 feet in front of him and to the right. When he got there, the Marine that was manning the Machine Gun there was starting to run out of ammo. Peterson handed him a drum he scavenged off his former barricade and watched as the bullets slammed into the shielded Elites. **

"**Zulu Company, this is Company C, ODST. What is your status?" an ODST questioned Peterson. An ODST squad emerged from the trees and the sniper of the ODST squad started to shoot the advancing Elites. The rest of them ran towards an abandoned barricade towards the left of his.**

**Peterson ran towards the barricade and slid into an ODST. He turned around and glared at Peterson. Peterson grinned and started to talk.**

"**I'm the CO. What is your status?" Peterson asked them. The ODST nodded and tapped on one of the other ODSTs. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Peterson and the other ODST nodded.**

"**I'm Sergeant Schmidt. What is your problem, Marine?" the ODST said. He gave his Sniper Rifle to one of the other ODSTs and crouch-walked over to Peterson.**

"**We're being killed out here Sergeant. We need extraction." Peterson said to Schmidt.**

"**Already on it." Schmidt said and pointed upwards. Upwards of three Pelicans flew above the trees and launched some missiles from the pods under the wings. Marines shouted and laughed at the Elites being demolished by the UNSC. The Pelicans lowered and the Marines and ODSTs boarded them.**

"**Where are we heading now, Schmidt?" Peterson said to the ODST Sergeant. He turned around and pointed at the nearest town, Fio. There was an ONI Base near it and there was explosions throughout the town.**

"**Covenant wants the ONI Base, so we aren't going to let them." he said.**

_**-Onboard Pelican E5, Fio, Reach**_

**Covenant AA Batteries were firing non-stop at the Pelicans flying over Fio. One bolt hit the Pelican and rocked it. **

"**Whoa! We need out of the sky, Sarge. Let's land this thing." Cacti said. All the rest of the squad nodded and started to walk towards the front of the craft. Pretty soon, the Pelican banked to the left and dove towards a street. There was two UNSC Barricades on the street and there was Covenant troops moving in on them.**

"**Go, go, go!" the crew chief said. The Machine Gunner was making the Elites take cover from the Pelican. After all of the Marines dismounted, the Pelican whirled around and started to fly down the street, launching rockets at the enemy. An AA volley struck the right side of the Pelican and the craft spun around three times and hit the side of a building.**

"**Flim, Cacti, move up and provide fire on the street from that building. Squad, on me." Schmidt said as he moved to the nearest barricade. A Wraith mortar hit the first barricade, killing all but one of the Marines stationed at it. The last one crawled prone to the next barricade and sighed. A medic put some biofoam in him and gave him a pistol.**

**Peterson led his fireteam to the top of an apartment building and looked over the edge. There was movement at the Pelican alright, lots of it. The pilot was using an M7S and his co-pilot was using an M6D. Some Jackals were flanking them however. One of Peterson's men threw a grenade and it exploded between the Jackals. The pilots waved at them and ran towards the barricade. The crew chief was dead on impact it seemed. Two Wraiths hovered onto the street and started to use the auto-cannon feature to mow down any Marines standing up. So far, that total was four. A Gauss Warthog slid onto the street and fired at the first Wraith. It exploded after one hit but the second Wraith destroyed the Warthog.**

"**All Fio forces, retreat to the ONI Interior. Retreat." the operator said. Seven Troop Transport Warthogs power-slid onto the street and started to take on passengers. However, 2 Marines and 3 ODSTs were not able to get in there so they were to run behind them and prevent Covenant forces from following them. A Frigate was now hovering over the city, why was it here instead of in space? Archer missiles came from above and destroyed the city. Then, the Frigate tilted back up towards space.**

**At the entrance to the ONI Base, some Marines with Rocket Launchers were guarding the gate. The gates opened for the Troop Warthogs and then they closed again.**

"**Come on mate, open the door." said Cacti. He was not happy that they were being left in the war zone.**

"**Sorry trooper. We can't let them in the base." the Marine said then pointed up in the sky.**

**Incoming, were 5 Phantoms. Probably full of Elites and Jackals. Two of them were holding Ghosts under them. **

"**Oh what the hell." said Flim. He pulled back the bolt on his Battle Rifle and raised the rifle to his shoulder. Peterson pulled the bolt on his Assault Rifle and shot the first Grunt to drop. The Ghosts boosted towards them and one of the guards fell to plasma bolts. **

**Flim saw a Spartan Laser and started to charge it. He aimed it at two Ghosts near each other when a third boosted into him.**

"**Gah!" he shouted. He smashed into a building and the Ghost drove off. The rest of his squad must have heard his cry on their radios because they whipped their heads around and started to run over there.**

"**Flim!" Cacti said. He was pulled back by Schmidt. **

"**Calm down Trooper. The charges are set, everyone get inside." Schmidt said. Everyone including Cacti jogged inside and closed the door. **

"**This is bloody crazy. Flim is out there dying and we're just sitting here!" Cacti shouted. He kicked a crate and it toppled off into a water fountain. **

"**No matter Cacti. He'll be dead soon. I'll make it quick." Schmidt said. He took the detonator and clicked it. A huge rumble was felt all over the base.**

"**Are you crazy!?" Cacti shouted. The rest of the squad pulled him down into a seat.**

"**Marines, over here. We have a problem." the Lieutenant said. He led them down a corridor with wounded Marines and some dead ones. There was one with half his arm missing and Covenant blood all over him. Must have been one hell of a fight.**

"**See. They're cutting through the wall" the officer said. A little orange glow was emitting from the wall and moving up.**

"**How long 'til they are completely done cutting the hole?" Schmidt said.**

"**Uh, three minutes." the officer said.**

"**Let's get kicking then." Schmidt said.**


	3. Battle of ONI Base 11

_-Happy Go Lucky, Space Battle of Reach, 0600 hours_

"Covenant boarding teams are breaching the hangar!" Lieutenant Dikota said.

"Send all available fireteams to the hangar. Fire MAC." Onus said.

Covenant ships had just now landed on the _Circumference_ and the Pillar of Autumn was deploying SPARTANS soon. ODSTs that were still on the planet were being shuttled to last stand positions and tanks were being brought down now.

"Sir, CCS-class cruiser on the port side. Archer pods are reloading. MAC is charging. What do we do?" the Weston said. The A.I. had a worried look on its face.

"Initiate Cole Protocol. Delete Memory and data. Then download yourself to my datapad and self-destruct the ship. Crew, to the lifepods." Onus said.

The CCS-class started to charge its guns. Red blotches started to expand on the side. Onus pulled back the slide on his M6D and ran for the lifepod. The Marines standing outside nodded at him.

"Let's go!" he said to the pilot of the pod. The pilot of the pod nodded and punched the button and the pod rocketed out of the ship. All of the crew looked back at the ship and watched the CCS cruiser launch the torpedoes and destroy the ship.

"Weston, talk to me." Onus said. He plugged the Datapad into a Holo-projector and looked for Weston's figure of a Marine.

"Yes, Captain?" the A.I. said. The rest of the crew blew out a sigh of relief. The loss of the A.I. would have been fateful to their survival.

"Let's hope we make it to the planet now." Onus said as they passed a group of dead bodies, floating in space.

_-ONI Base, Reach, 0635 hours_

The hastily set up defenses included ten tables on their sides, 20 metal portable barricades and 4 concrete barricades. Up to 40 Marines were sitting behind the defenses waiting for the Covenant to come through. They were almost done, another thirty seconds maybe.

"Ready weapons!" Lieutenant Sizemore said. The troops scrambled from their places and went to barricades and pulled back slides and bolts and aimed Battle Rifles, Assault Rifles, M7S, M6S, and Machine Guns at the door. Finally, the orange glow reached its starting point. A blue glow came from behind the door from a plasma grenade.

The explosion sent pieces of debris everywhere and metal was flying. Plasma bolts zoomed through the smoke and impacted on bodies and barricades.

"Grenades!" Sizemore said. Fragmentation grenades were thrown towards the door. Blue blood flew around from the grenade kills. A Hunter stepped through the door.

"Rockets!" Sizemore shouted. One rocket hit the Hunter's shield. It roared and charged the first barricade. The Marines behind it fired up at it but he brought the blade of his shield down on their heads. A red laser appeared on the head of the beast. A massive red laser hit the Hunter in the head and killed it.

"Hell yeah!" the Marine shouted. He hefted the Spartan Laser back up and pointed it at the door. Plasma bolts were still coming in. A Ghost boosted through but was destroyed by the sheer volume of fire pouring down on it. Grunts and Elites began to shuffle into the building.

"Marines! Fall back!" Sizemore said right before he got shot. Peterson ran towards the stairs where Sizemore was formerly commanding from. Another Hunter entered the hole. It roared and fired a fuel rod at a squad of Marines. All were killed.

"Lieutenant!" Peterson said as he slid towards Sizemore.

"Sergeant…tell Lieutenant Jigni that he is to lead you to Site Alpha Zulu." and then, he was gone. Peterson took Sizemore's grenades and weapons and ran back towards the rest of his Marines. He ran up past the ODSTs and caught up to Jigni.

"Peterson! Where's Sizemore?" Jigni growled.

"Dead, sir." Peterson said. "He told me to tell you to go to Site Alpha Zulu."

"I see." Jigni said. "All troops, through the doors, follow me." Jigni typed in a four-digit code and they all watched the doors slide open. The troops jogged through the door and it closed behind them. The lights overhead flipped on.

"Get a move on, Marines. Covenant doesn't care if our legs are tired!" Jigni barked.

_-On board Life Pod JULIET4361251, 0645 hours_

Onus was looking out the window of the lifepod. The Covenant Fleet was beating the UNSC badly. The whole crew stared in shock at the destruction.

"This is Captain Onus to any escort fighters in the vicinity of Reach. My lifepod is currently unprotected but I don't know how long it will take for the Covenant to find us. We need help. Onus out" the captain said over FLEETCOM.

"Captain Onus, this is Papa Seven. Escort Longswords on the way. Out." a pilot said over FLEETCOM. FLEETCOM was full of confusing conversation and screams for help so Weston sent a PRVCOM to Papa Seven.

"Papa Seven, Covenant Seraphs at our one o'clock. Immediate assistance is needed." Onus said.

"Papa Seven inbound. Danger close." the pilot said. A Longsword flew by the lifepod and fired some missles at the Seraphs. Three blew up out of the four.

"Seraphs are out of commission!" the pilot said. The remaining Seraph gave up on the pod and chased the enemy fighter.

"Papa Seven, Seraph on your six!" Onus shouted into PRVCOM.

"What?" the pilot said. A plasma torpedo fired from the Seraph and impacted on the fighter. The fighter spun two times and exploded. The Seraph turned around to fire on the pod but it must've run out of ammo because it turned around towards the Assault Carrier.

"Papa Seven is down." Onus reported on FLEETCOM. He turned back towards the crew and began to speak.

"Okay men and woman. We might not make it, so I am going to say this. We've served together since 2550. We defeated countless Covenant and we've grown stronger than I've ever though we would. Remember that." Onus ended. He turned back around while one of the crew members began to clap.

"How is she?" Onus said to the pilot.

"Not good sir. We've taken a few hits from debris. We'll hit the ground in ETA five minutes." the pilot replied.

"Interesting." Onus wondered.

_-Underground, 1km from ONI Base 11, 0650 hours, 15 minutes until Reach is glassed._

The underground tunnel system was enormous. Must've been built when they thought nukes were possessed by the Covenant. At least they didn't have nukes, they did Humanity a better one, plasma. Already, Schmidt had seen three planets glassed. Harvest, Jericho VII, and Arcadia. All of them brutal, all of them near death experiences. On Harvest, he was almost killed by a falling beam when the Covenant started to glass the polar regions. On Jericho VII, he was hit by a Ghost and suffered from internal bleeding. On Arcadia, he was one of the only teams deployed there due to it being abandoned but he was pinned by a tree. One of his teammates helped him up but still, he almost died.

But the important thing was that he was alive now to supervise these grunts in his squad and make sure they didn't die. He had a feeling that they would need it soon.

Up ahead, 3 Warthogs and a Puma pulled up. In the passenger seat of the Warthog, a Marine with "R.T.S" stitched on the breast got out and walked to them.

"Captain James Cho of Reach Tunnel Security. Why are you down here? Aren't you needed up there?" he asked as he pointed upwards.

"No sir. I'm Lieutenant Jigni, Sizemore's dead. I'm command of this lot." he said while pointing behind him.

"Here to see Col. Mason?" Cho asked.

"Why that would be splendid of you." Jigni said irritated. Cho pushed a finger to a headset on his right ear and started talking to somebody. After a brief thirty seconds of conversation, he got off the headset.

"Alright, stay behind the vehicles. I'll lead you to him." Cho said and got back in the Warthog.


End file.
